Father of Germanwings pilot seeks to clear son’s name

On the eve of the second anniversary of the Germanwings crash, family and friends paid tributes to the victims at a memorial in Barcelona airport, where the plane had taken off.

Investigators concluded that Andreas Lubitz intentionally flew the jet into a French mountainside, but his father sought to clear his name. Guenter Lubitz said there was no definite proof his son deliberately crashed adding the investigation was incomplete.

It is a claim which has rattled the victims’ relatives.

“The relatives are shocked about this news,” said Elmar Giemulla, a lawyer representing the victims. “They are literally speechless, they are searching for words. They are in the process of making their way to Le Vernet to commemorate the second anniversary. This is obviously a situation which requires silence and concentration,” he added.

German prosecutors said that Lubitz’s mental illness caused suicidal thoughts leading him to crash the plane killing all 150 people onboard.